Editorial Contact:
Aglaia Pikounis
The Warren Group
(617) 896-5370
apikounis@thewarrengroup.com
Bay State Home Sales & Price Decline Moderates In June
Year-Over-Year Drop in Monthly Condominium Sales & Prices Eases
BOSTON, July 28, 2009 – Single-family home sales in Massachusetts dipped nearly 5 percent in June from a year ago, while the median home price slid 8 percent, according to The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman.
“Even though sales and prices are still sliding, June delivered the smallest year-over-year drop that we’ve seen so far in 2009. This is good news. In fact, the declines in the number of sales and median price for single-family homes were in the single digits, a vast improvement over the declines we saw earlier in the year,” said Timothy M. Warren Jr., CEO of The Warren Group. “The median home price in June exceeded $300,000 for the first time since last August. It is good to see this trend toward moderation in June, historically the strongest month of the year for real estate closings.”
June single-family home sales slipped 4.9 percent to 4,436 from 4,664 in June 2008. Home sales from January through June totaled 16,541, a 10.7 percent drop from 18,521 during the same months in 2008. It was the slowest sales pace for the six-month period since The Warren Group began tracking the Bay State real estate market in 1987.
The median price for homes sold in June fell 8 percent to $302,500 from $329,000 in June 2008.
The median price for homes sold through June 2009 was $275,000, down 12.7 percent from $315,000 a year ago.
Of the single-family home sales that occurred in the first two quarters of 2009, 6.5 percent – or 1,070 homes -- were bank-owned properties, which are also known as real estate-owned properties. The median price of the real estate-owned home sales was $100,000. Last year during the same months, 5.2 percent of the single-family homes that were sold -- or 965 homes -- were owned by lending institutions, and the median price of those homes was $156,000.
As with single-family homes, the year-over-year decline in condominium sales and prices moderated in June. Condo sales tumbled 16.1 percent to 1,916 in June from 2,285 a year ago. Monthly condo sales have been falling by double-digit percentages year-over-year since last November.
A total of 7,464 condos sold in the first six months of 2009, down from 9,838 during the same period in 2008. It was the weakest first two quarters for condo sales since 1995, according to The Warren Group.
The median price for condos sold in June was $278,624, 5.7 percent lower than $295,500 last June. The year-to-date median condo price retreated 11.5 percent to $245,000 from $277,000.
About The Warren Group
The Warren Group, based in Boston, is the publisher of Banker & Tradesman, The Commercial Record and a series of association publications. As the premier provider of real estate data in New England, The Warren Group offers a range of real estate products and services for professionals and consumers searching for real estate and financial information. For more information about The Warren Group, please visit www.thewarrengroup.com or call 617-428-5100.
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